When Did You Fall?
by VampirateLycan
Summary: Remus looks back through his memories to try and find the answer to a question. But is he any closer to the answer at the end of his journey? On Hold.
1. Snowman

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any related articles nor do I own the song 'When did you fall' sung by Chris Rice. I also do not own anything that you recognise. I also realise that this song is used a lot in this ship but as far as I know this is original. If not, sorry. Furthermore I do not own any board games mentioned in this story, they belong to Hasbro and related companies and affiliates. 

A/N: Ok, first fanfic ever that has made it from my brain to the computer so whether it any good or not I don't know. Review please so I know and constructive criticism is ok, otherwise how will I improve. Oh and a line of indicates a flashback, solid line indicates passing time.

Snowman

It's amazing how perspectives change. I still remember the first time I saw you and often wonder how you came to feel the way you do, because when we first met that was the furthest thing from my mind. 

"Sirius you are kidding us, right?" James cried while looking up at a neat little four-bedroom house surrounded by snow. The group of friends on the driveway could hear laughter and shouting followed by the occasional crash of what they assumed was broken pottery. Sirius beamed at the house. 

"No Prongs I'm afraid not, besides cheer up, Moony isn't complaining" he said while patting Remus' shoulder. Remus just sighed; the truth was he could think of quite a few other things that he would rather be doing than babysitting a four-year-old in his Christmas break. Studying sprang to the forefront of his mind immediately but he kept quiet anyway. 

"Hey Padfoot" James enquired while gazing at what Remus could only assume to be holly, "How come Wormtail gets out of sitting duty" 

"Oh he said something about his mum being ill or something, I wasn't really listening" Sirius replied looking up "oh there's Andromeda" 

Remus looked up the drive to spot what could only be described as a extremely relieved looking woman waving and gesturing for them to come in. The three marauders looked at each other, squared their shoulders and marched into the house. 

"Hey 'Dromeda" Sirius said wrapping his older cousin in a hug. 

"Hello Sirius" she replied distracted "thank goodness you're here. Right well, Nymphadora has already eaten just keep her occupied and out of trouble. Contact me if anything major goes wrong, the numbers on the fridge, don't feed her any sugar and her bedtimes at eight. Got it?" 

The friends nodded bemused. 

"Right, Ted and I have got to go and remember to just keep her out of trouble" 

"'Dromeda, how much trouble can a four year old cause" asked Sirius. 

Andromeda turned from leaving while Ted continued down the drive shaking his head apparently amused. She opened her mouth, closed it, thought for a bit then just shook her head and waved goodbye hurrying down the drive to catch up with her husband. 

"Odd" muttered James while shutting the door. 

"Hi" 

The Marauders all jumped and looked behind them to see a little girl with copper hair wearing a pair of red and green chequered pyjamas. 

"Hi" she repeated staring at them looking slightly amused "are you all here to look after me then?" 

"Yep" said Sirius striding forward and kneeling down in front of the girl, " I'm Sirius, what's your name?" 

"Dorrie" she replied staring over his shoulder. "Who are you?" She directed at the other two Marauders. 

"I thought her mum said her name was Nymphadora" James whispered to Remus ignoring the question, but seeing the little girls angry glare retracted the statement and held up a placating hand, "Ok, Dorrie it is. I'm James and this is Remus" he said indicating Remus with a wave of his hand. 

Dorrie ginned and tugged on Sirius' trouser leg. 

"Can we play now?" 

Two hours later and the living room was littered with toys and board games and the three friends were lying on the chairs and floor suddenly realising why Dorries mother warned them to keep her out of trouble. The four-year-old had boundless energy and got bored easily. When bored she would wonder and explore possible breakable objects, which she nearly always broke. They had already used about twenty ruparo charms already. They were exhausted. Dorrie however was sitting in the middle of the floor playing with a hastily conjured ball. 

"Hey Padfoot" James asked wearily "wasn't her hair red?" 

"Dunno" Mumbled Sirius "Why? Missing Lily already" he chuckled cracking open an eye. 

"No, its just that its blonde now" he replied staring mystified at the girl on the rug. 

They all looked at Dorrie playing and stared in wonder. James and Sirius looked pointedly at Remus who rolled his eyes. 

"Dorrie" he said quietly. 

"Yeah" she replied not looking up. 

"Um… how did your hair change colour?" 

Dorries face lit up with happiness as she lifted her head to look at Remus. 

"I'm a metamorphmagothingy" She said positively bouncing in excitement, "it means that I can look like whatever I want but mummy says that I can't control it yet but that I just need practice, wanna see?" She asked gazing up at the marauders wide eyed. Sirius nodded while glancing round at the clock on the mantle, he did a double take and then gulped. 

"Guys, its almost nine, we missed Dorries bedtime and we still need to clean up. 'Dromeda will be back in about an hour. Dorrie needs to get to bed, but first;" he said starting to gather toys, "she can collect board games. If your careful" he added glaring at the child who nodded hopefully. 

This choice however was soon regretted after a landslide involving Monopoly, Cluedo and Risk... and James' shin. So James and Sirius bundled Dorrie up in her coat and sent her outside with a grumbling Remus to play in the snow while they cleaned. Within five minutes however Remus was enjoying himself, talking to the small child and hearing about how difficult morphing was. He was happily levitating the head of a snowman; onto a body that Dorrie had spent the better part of half an hour making; and turning it different colours for her (and his) amusement when Dorrie suddenly started shaking his trouser leg. 

"Looks, look" she cried " Did it change? Did it change?" asked Dorrie pointing at her hair. 

Remus took a glance and had to stifle a laugh. 

"Yes it did" he chuckled staring at her bubblegum pink hair "well done" 

Dorrie beamed proudly and her hair faded back to a mousy brown as Sirius called them in. 

Later as the marauders were walking back down the drive after being thanked profusely by Andromeda and Ted, Sirius elbowed Remus in the ribs. 

"Looks like you made an impression on Dorrie, Moony" he said pointing up. 

Remus followed the direction of his arm and spotted a young pink haired witch waving like a loony grinning ear to ear with a scar identical to Remus' across her face. Remus sighed amused as James and Sirius doubled over with silent laughter at Dorries little crush on her babysitter. 

My friends tortured me for months over your crush, and even though we never went back to baby-sit I never forgot that grin on your face. Over the years Sirius' and James' silent ribbing gave way to more serious thoughts and they eventually forgot about how a four-year-old metamorphmagus had a crush on me. However I continued to think on how talented you would likely be if you could master such a power at such a young age. I didn't realise how right I was until many years later when we met again.

A/N: OK so first fanfic. Reviews would be grateful, if you liked it tell me why. If you hated it tell me why. If you didn't read it why am I giving you an option. And if you don't like Harry Potter what are you doing on this site.


	2. Bus Stop

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any related articles nor do I own the song 'When did you fall' sung by Chris Rice. I also do not own anything that you recognise.

A/N: Again a line of represents flashback. The same applies to the last chapter but I forgot to mention it. Any and all mistakes are mine. Thanks for reading and please review otherwise how can I improve. Still trying to get at least partially good at this writing thing. 

Bus Stop 

Many years passed until I saw you again and I scarcely recognised you. You had indeed grown into a talented witch no matter how lacking in grace. 

Rain was pelting the streets as Remus continued to walk towards the ministry. He was in no real hurry to get there. The werewolf registry office could wait for him. Damn it they could wait for as long as he decided. He hated going there. Deciding to prolong his torture he stopped at a bus stop and took a seat. 

Sitting at muggle bus stops had always amused the 33-year-old. The way they sat around for ages grumbling about lateness and timetable mix-ups and no-hope drivers. It was really quite laughable. Remus was just staring at an old woman to see if muggles really did know what they were taking about with their mind-reading techniques, he was trying to get the woman to tell him her bus number when a shout caught his attention. 

"See ya Kingsley," yelled a blonde witch who looked to be in her late teens or early twenties. 

"Bye Nymph" a dark man called back. 

"Its Tonks!" she corrected sounding amused as she turned shaking her head. 

Remus caught a look at her robes as she turned. They were blood red. An Auror. Damn! She was to close for him to try and hide though. 

'Besides' he thought calming himself down 'I can report for re-registration any time I like, they have no need to send Aurors after me, they haven't got enough for one thing' 

As he was reassuring himself that she wasn't looking for him the blonde Auror had come upon the bus stop, though she was running now, as she went past him however her foot slid and she fell. Remus, acting on an instinct, leapt forward and caught her hand to stop her doing any damage to herself or the pavement. 

"Thanks" she mumbled blushing faintly as Remus righted her " I'm forever tripping, I'm dead clumsy have…" 

She cut herself off though as the bus at the curb shut its doors and pulled away. 

"Shoot! Now I've missed my bus" she stopped looking to a slightly bemused Remus. "That wasn't a very good introduction was it? Wotcher, the names Nymphadora Tonks, but please, call me Tonks." 

"Remus Lupin" Remus replied staring at the girl in wonder, she was quite something alright. "Would you like some company while you wait for your next bus?" 

Tonks stared at him dubiously for a second and raised an eyebrow slightly before replying brightly. 

"Ok, but only if its no bother, wouldn't want you to put yourself out" 

Remus laughed. 

"Not at all, I was just headed to the ministry, which I see you've already come from. Auror?" 

"What? These?" Tonks asked gesturing the robes. Remus nodded. 

"Oh no, I'm not fully qualified yet. Only my second year of training. Am totally failing stealth and tracking but concealment and disguise is in the bag. 

"Why?" enquired Remus "are you some sort of potions whiz?" 

"Well I'm not bad at it, Snape hated me for that, but I have a hidden talent" she leaned forward and gestured for Remus to do the same, then screwed up her face in concentration and then smiled. "Look" she said holding up the hair. 

Remus looked and was stunned; the hair was bright pink. He looked at her grinning face and was suddenly overcome with a sense of déjà vu; and as a memory of a four-year old girl waving and ginning with a mess of pink hair invaded his senses he was lost in nostalgia. Tonks took this chance to study him. 

He was quite handsome in her opinion; he had a scar running across his face that did nothing to detract from his features. He had brilliant amber eyes and sandy brown hair scattered with premature grey hair. There also seemed to be something familiar about him, something she couldn't quite place. As she stared at him trying to work out where she had seen him before she noticed he was coming out of his revere. 

"Dorrie" Remus said quietly. 

Tonks chuckled; no one had called her that in years. Not since she was six. She wondered a little at how he knew and the faint bell ringing in recognition in her mind tolled a little louder. 

"Yeah" she laughed slightly " I used to demand that everybody call me that, haven't heard it in years though, how did you know?" 

Remus looked at her a little startled, he hadn't realised he had spoken aloud, he was also slightly discouraged that she hadn't recognised him. 

"Erm…" he coughed trying to change the subject " what time will your bus be here?" 

"Oh, not for another ten minutes or so" she replied glancing at her watch then at him strangely before asking "why?" 

"Oh no reason" Remus said tugging slightly at his collar "it's just that I didn't realise how late it was … and I don't want to be late for that…meeting at the ministry" 

"Oh" she said looking slightly startled "of course, sorry for keeping you" 

" Not at all, it was nice to meet you Miss Tonks" he added standing and turning. 

"The pleasure was all mine Mr Lupin" she said "only…" 

Tonks peered at him wonderingly for a second and then shook her head. 

"Nothing" she said "go ahead, don't be late and have a good day" waving goodbye she turned, back to waiting for her bus. 

Remus sighed as he continued walking through the drizzle. Tonks didn't recognise him, but, he thought, she was young when they first saw each other. However he thought to himself he had been right. She had turned out to be a talented witch. Beautiful too. Remus shook his head cursing his inner voice, no use thinking like that. It would never happen in a million years. 

As Remus continued walking arguing with his inner voice he didn't see Tonks turn and gaze after him a light blush adorning her cheeks. She thought for a second lost in her own world and as the number 93 bus pulled up something clicked and the bell in her mind tolled in glee. As she boarded the bus and took a seat she looked out the window at the rapidly diminishing spot that was Remus and breathed in wonder. 

"Moony" 


	3. Coffee Shop

A/N: Right well, same as other chapters anything that you recognise isn't mine and this fic was greatly inspired by When did you fall by Chris Rice. 

**  
****Coffee Shop****  
**

The events that followed in the next year or so were hectic but still in some ways joyful. I got my best friend, my brother, back. I knew he was innocent as did Harry, Ron and Hermione. The rest of the wizarding world however didn't seem to want to believe it, and even though Dumbledore warned me that Aurors would inevitably come to question me about Sirius' whereabouts, when they did, the resulting interview wasn't exactly what I was expecting. 

"That will be £1.94" 

Remus snapped out of his daydream with a jerk and looked at the waitress in confusion. 

"Erm… pardon?" he enquired. 

The waitress sighed, obviously used to customers who weren't paying attention and in bored tone replied. 

"£1.94, for the tea" she gestured to his now empty cup. 

Remus, startled, realising that he had indeed finished his tea and had just been staring into space for the better part of at least half an hour. 

"Oh right" Remus said digging into his pockets for change. He found the right amount and handed it to the impatient waitress. She briefly counted it then headed back to the counter and deposited it in the till. 

As Remus went about collecting his coat while a friendlier waitress gave him a smile as she began to collect rubbish and wipe down the table, something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. At the front of the coffee shop a black-haired woman was ordering a coffee to go. The oddest thing though was that her hair seemed to be more midnight blue then black. He shook his head amused at the thought, as it was quite impossible, especially as this was a muggle coffee shop. 

However as he was leaving he took one last look back into the shop and the woman's eyes meet his. She gazed at him a while before her eyes widened in surprise and she turned back to ordering her coffee. Remus left the shop slightly bemused, he wondered where the woman recognised him from, he assumed that she had recognised him anyway. Shaking his head he continue on his way putting it to the back of his mind. 

------------------------------------- 

As the weeks progressed Remus kept going to the coffee shop, he would order a cup of tea or if he was feeling slightly indulgent, a hot chocolate. In these trips he noticed something. Everytime he went in there the girl with 'blue' hair was there. Now nothing was too odd with a regular customer, heaven knows he went there enough; no the odd thing was that she would try to nonchalantly stare at him. It wasn't very subtle. 

It was on one of his many early morning visits to the coffee shop on a particularly cold morning that he saw the young woman running along the pavement muttering about being late. As she ran though Remus noticed that she was pulling a pair of blood red robes out of her bag. 

'An Auror' thought Remus 'That explains the staring; they must want to finally approach me about Sirius' 

As he walked into the coffee shop while counting change to see if he had enough for a hot chocolate he wondered how many Aurors had midnight blue hair. It clicked. Remus grinned. 

---------------------------------------- 

About two days later and Remus was sitting at a table in the coffee shop wondering if he should test his theory or not. 

'Well no time like the present' he thought as the blue-haired woman walked in. 

Summoning courage he wasn't sure that he had he took a breath and yelled. 

"Tonks" 

She turned. 

'Well that settles that' he thought as he watched her grin, gather her drink and walk over to join him at his table. 

"Wotcher" she smiled as she sat down. Remus sighed and gave a slight half-hearted smile. 

The gin slowly fell off her face and compression dawned on her features. She leaned forward slightly to whisper across the table. 

"You know why I'm here then?" she asked. 

"Yes" Remus replied "you are here, as an Auror, to question me on Sirius' whereabouts. Well let me save you the time and effort. I don't know where he is." He stood to leave but noticed that Tonks was chuckling slightly. 

"What?" he asked confused. 

Tonks looked up wiping away a stray tear from repressed laughter that leaked from her eye. 

"I'm afraid not, see although I am now an Auror, the office won't let me near Sirius' case file" 

Remus looked at the girl still a little lost. 

"Then…what are you doing here?" he asked. 

"Well" she said apparently choosing her words carefully "I am here about Sirius. Ever since he escaped last year I've done some thinking and something doesn't quite fit, so I was wondering whether you could tell me the story. Tell me why you trust him, why you think he's innocent" She stopped looking at him intently. 

Remus sat slightly amazed; she was in a way risking her very job to ask this. To go against the ministry could be considered treason. Furthermore she was seeking the opinion of him, a Dark Creature. He respected her for that. He looked at her hopeful face and took a breath. 

"Miss Tonks, get comfortable, it's a long story" 

So Remus told Tonks, amid various cup of tea and coffee about how Sirius had escaped not to kill Harry as everyone thought, but Peter Pettigrew. To perform the murder that he was imprisoned for. He told about how everyone was sure that Sirius was after Harry, about the dementors at school, about his teaching and finally how he came to be at the shrieking shack with Harry, Ron and Hermione. However here he faltered. 

"What? Carry on" Tonks prompted. 

"Well you see" Remus tried to explain, but how do you explain how you are a werewolf and because of this nearly killed three students and two adults, however Tonks suddenly nodded in understanding. 

"Its ok Moony, I know" she said gently "Carry on" 

Remus looked up at the mention of his old nickname and seeing no hostility, nodded. He took another breath to re-assure himself and after another look at Tonks' attentive face dived back into his story. 

---------------------------------------- 

"So basically" Tonks summarised ignoring the coffee shop owner gesturing for them to leave, as it was closing time. "You trust him because he is your friend, almost your brother and you believe his story?" 

"Yes" Remus said slowly watching her out of the corner of his eye. Everything really banked on what she said next. 

"Well then" Tonks said cheerfully standing up and throwing down a tip. "That's good enough for me" 

"What?" Remus asked bemused joining her in leaving the coffee shop; "You believe me? Just like that?" 

"Remus" She said placing her hand on his arm "I've always trusted my cousin, probably one of the reasons they won't let me near his case, but I just wanted to hear why you believed in him, OK?" 

Remus nodded trying to quell the swooping sensation in his stomach from when she touched his arm. 

"Was nice seeing you again Remus" she said putting on her gloves and turning to leave "Keep well" 

"And you" Remus replied watching her walk away. 

---------------------------------- 

Five months later and Remus' house was playing host to an impromptu Order meeting. 

To say that Remus was surprised when Sirius turned up on his doorstep ranting about Harry, a graveyard and Voldemort was an understatement. However after a shot or two of firewhiskey Sirius was in a well enough state to tell the entire story. So for the next two hours Sirius and Remus had notified the 'Old Group' and now Dumbledore was giving them their instructions. 

"Now, one last thing" Dumbledore said stopping the large group from leaving. "We need new members. So if you know of anyone that could be sympathetic to our cause talk to them in private and see if they could make it to our next meting at headquarters. Which is I believe at Sirius' house, correct?" Dumbledore looked over to Sirius who nodded. "Right that's all then, off you go" 

As the last person left shutting the door behind them Remus looked over at Sirius grinning and Sirius evidently having the same thought grinned back. 

------------------------------------ 

And that's how two weeks later Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks came to be standing in front of a row of houses on Grimmuald Place. 

"Right, well, Sirius lent his house to Dumbledore for meetings, hence why we are here." 

Tonks looked at Remus a little confused, and then as something seemed to click into place comprehension crossed her face. She grinned. 

Remus grinned back and gave her some last minute instructions. 

"Now if you just read this we can head inside and stop Sirius from thrashing the place" 

With this statement he handed her a piece of parchment with familiar loopy handwriting covering the surface. As she read it she felt a sense of achievement wash over her and with one more glance at Remus she watched a house appear as she thought about what she had just read. 

'The Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix can be found at Number 12 Grimmuald place, London.' 

A/N: Right well the last bit is obviously from Order of the Phoenix by JK Rowling. Please review. 

A/N2: Right just did some simple editing and looking at my schedule for the next few weeks I don't think I'll be able to update until after Christmas. I'll try but I have exams, classes to help teach and on top of that writers block. I will try to get it up though I promise.   
So please review, it helps you know?


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